The Price of Arrogance
Title: The Price of Arrogance
Author: amadris
Fandom(s): Twilight
Rating: R just to be safe
Word Count: 898
Inspiration: Written as to illustrate what would really happen if a person was driving 100 mp/h in the night, not keeping their eyes in the road.
Warnings: Character death
Summary: Edward Cullen is finally forced to realize the depth of his own arrogance. Unfortunately the price is human life.
Author’s Note: This spitefic refers to the first book and chapter 9, called Theory.
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"Are you trying to kill us?" I demanded.
"We're not going to crash."
I tried to modulate my voice. "Why are you in such a hurry?"
"I always drive like this." He turned to smile crookedly at me.
"Keep your eyes on the road!"
"I've never been in an accident, Bella - I've never even gotten a -“
Edward Cullen’s irresponsible words were interrupted by the cold fact that he had just crashed the car right into a wandering moose in 100 mp/h.
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Chief Swan was the first police at the scene of accident.
Blinding blue and red lights from ambulance and the fire truck illuminated the horrible vision. The silver volvo, crushed by the animal’s weight, was lying at the bank of road. It had been driving so fast that the collision with the wandering moose had not stopped the car. The vehicle had continued until it had crashed into a tree.
Something twisted in Charlie’s stomach when he recognized the car - only a Cullen could own such an expensive vehicle. Of course Charlie had known of the Cullens’ driving habits. He had even given tickets to some of them. The lesson hadn’t really gone through albeit. When you had that much money, it was probably hard to pay attention to such trivial matters as traffic law. Now it had apparently resulted in one of the young Cullens dying, for it was impossible that anyone could survive such accident. The family would be devastated when they would hear about this accident.
Charlie’s brow wrinkled when he saw that one of them was actually sitting on the tending table in the ambulance. It was Edwin - Edward? - and he looked perfectly fine, as if he hadn’t even been in an accident. Maybe he had been on a back seat. Then again, even if he had been, he should not seem all healthy and fine. Surely an accident of this magnitude would have left some injuries?
He decided he would question the boy later. He seemed kind of shaken, after all. Maybe it would be better if Charlie gave him a second to gather himself.
One of the firemen approached him with a severe expression. His colleagues were already investigating the car, probably trying to find a way to get the victims out. They weren’t in hurry, of course - those inside excluding Edward were likely long dead.
“What are the casualties?” Charlie asked, bracing himself for the grave task. As a cop of a small town, he didn’t have to attend to such matters often, of which he was thankful for.
“One dead. We are trying to get her out of the car, but the vehicle is badly damaged, and we need to get the moose out before we can get to the victim”, the fireman explained.
“Alright. What about her brother? He seemed to be just fine”, Charlie said.
“Apparently it’s not a family member of his. He was driving her home from a shopping trip to Port Angeles - he knew her from school”, the other man said. The knot in Charlie’s stomach tightened, but he would not think about the nightmarish picture that popped in his mind immediately. Bella was probably still in Port Angeles with girls, having lost all sense of time with her new friends.
“Who was driving? The girl?” he inquired.
“No. It was him. It looks like he was speeding real bad”, the fireman answered.
“How is he even alive after that?” Charlie wondered.
“I don’t understand it either. He was the one that called the officials - there was no scratch on him when we got here. The girl, on the other hand... She was not that lucky”, the other man said and shook his head.
“Well, we got at least one negligent manslaughter here. The town will be in uproar”, Charlie sighed.
“Chief Swan!” one of the firemen shouted. He nodded to the man he had been talking to and then approached the one who had called him.
“What is it, Steve?” he asked. He knew the guy - they had been friends since high school. There was a grave expression on Steve’s face, and he was holding his helmet in his hands.
“I... There is something... the victim...” Steve stuttered anxiously and then glanced back at the car.
“What is wrong?” Charlie insisted, the worry rising sharply now. Steve could not talk - he just extended his hand towards the remains of the car.
Fear filling him, the chief of police approached it. He went to the passenger’s side, and when he took in the sight that greeted him in the shattered vision, Charlie felt like he was going to die.
It was Bella.
Blood cast a sharp contrast to her pale skin, her expression frozen in terror. Her eyes were still open, but the gaze was dead now - empty and glassy. He could only see her face, as the rest of her crushed body was lost in the dark mass of the animal’s body.
Bella was dead. His only daughter was dead.
Charlie didn’t realize he was crying until the heavy sobs broke into shouts of pure pain. Steve was talking something, but Charlie could not hear - his ears were numb and unhearing, as he still stared the face of his dead daughter.
And the only thing he could think of was that somewhere, somehow, he would kill Edward Cullen.